Mixed Up
by Joyful Pixie
Summary: After the fall of Avista, the ThunderCats and their allies struggle with picking up the pieces of what once was the floating tech city of Avista, but more than just the city had been broken that day. For Panthro, something seemed to be wrong with his lover and soul mate, Iris (OC). Panthro/OC-centered. This is me testing out an idea. Takes place after episode 26. More chaps coming.


**Hina: **So, this idea has been with me for quite a long time, at least since I first saw Panthro on the remake (in the episode Old Friends). Since Panthro almost never get any love, where him being paired up with anyone's OCs is concerned, I decided on creating an OC specifically for him. But because I'm out of practice with writing out an OC and a canon character falling in love slowly, I'm going to have my OC, Iris, and Panthro already in an established romantic relationship, so Panthro might feel a bit awkward and out of character. I promise I'll write their full love story from the beginning one day but for now, enjoy this little test piece.

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Chapter 1

She sat there on the hood of the large metal vehicle, both feet dangling over the edge. Long light brown hair was held in a single braid that hung about her back. One would think this strange human woman was no older than her teen years but she was actually in her late twenties, she had long forgotten her past, her childhood, but that didn't matter when you had a future with someone, right?

Iris let out a soft yawn, hiding her mouth behind a small hand as a large blue-grayed figure laid underneath the large cat-themed tank. Besides the soft thuds of her own heart beating in her chest, she heard some not so favorable words from the cat-man making repairs to the underside of the tank and along with it were the usual metal clinkings and clanging as the said Cat warrior worked. As she looked around, she saw the camp that had been made. Robotic bears, a lot of them rolling around the area and others either simply staring at this huge beast of a tank or actually helping her companion with the much-needed repairs. This new Thundertank 3.0 had been made from the scraps of the now-defunct feliner and a few pieces from the fallen city of Avista.

Of course, Iris would've helped, but the last time she tried to help Panthro with the repairs, she didn't understand any of the mechanical workings of the ThunderTank or what Panthro was talking about. She ended up accidentally making the ThunderTank smoke and with it, Panthro fussing over his hunk of junk of a baby being tampered with. Now she was reduced to just passing the tools. But at the current time, her role as Panthro's assistant was taken over by the mechanical teddy bear beings.

Every time she caught sight of one of the Berbils talking with Panthro, she felt a painful prickling feeling in her heart.

Another loud clunk brought her back to attention. The woman looked down, she saw Panthro coming out from under the Thundertank and for a split second, their eyes met, brown eyes meeting red. For that small second, she felt the familiar warmth replacing the painful pang in her chest, but it disappeared almost instantly as Panthro's attention immediately went to the Ro-Bear Berbil closest to him. A frown graced her lips as the painful feeling in her chest appeared once more. Ever since the fall of the floating tech city of Avista, things had felt odd between them. At least to her, they did. She didn't mind Panthro helping the Berbils get the tech city back in the sky for the Birds, that part was perfectly fine.

It was something else that bothered her, she couldn't quite figure out what was bothering her, except for the small painful feeling of jealousy she felt whenever she saw Panthro talking or interacting with any of the Berbils. But why was she getting jealous of the robot bears when they've been nothing but friendly and kind towards her?

Again she was snapped out of her bitter thoughts when she heard his deep voice calling out to her.

"Hey, Risa!" He even called her by his personal nickname for her. Hearing this nickname made her heart jump and she finally looked down at Panthro again. He smiled, but it wasn't at her. It was at whatever he was working on at the bottom of the ThunderTank. "You should come see this! Ro-Bear Bill fixed the problem with the missile launcher."

Iris found herself flinching at hearing the warrior's happy tone, the prickling feeling in her heart becoming painfully stronger.

Not hearing a response from her, Panthro looked up at his human lover. To his surprise, there was an irritated look in her eyes. As soon as she noticed he was looking at her, she looked away. The woman's actions confused the panther warrior. He rubbed the back of his head in confusion.

"Iris?" he started.

"I don't care!" She cut him off, her body tensing from the anger that was now building as she spoke. "I don't care about some stupid missile launcher, you fixed it, hooray," she said the last part sarcastically.

It was Panthro's turn to feel annoyed. The warrior crossed his arms, willing himself to not lose his temper. He spoke after closing his eyes for a second and inhaling deeply. "What's wrong with you?"

Iris just hugged herself, suddenly feeling guilty for snapping at him. "It's nothing," she said softly. Her voice was quiet as she apologized. "Sorry."

Panthro just raised an eyebrow at hearing her words. It felt odd to see her go through so many emotions in one go. Even worse, Iris never snapped at him. It would be the other way around, but he would only snap at her if she was helping with the repairs to the Thundertank and she made a little mistake that set his repairs back a step or two. Even then, he would apologize right away. Before he could say another word to her, Iris stood up and jumped off the Thundertank.

She took off running as soon as she landed on the ground.

"Iris!" Panthro called after her, but she was already running away. The warrior growled in frustration at the human woman's actions, running one of his mechanical hands across the side of his head. "What in the world got into her?"

"Berbil, Panthro," Came the robotic voice from behind him. Panthro looked down at hearing his name being called. "What should we do with this piece?"

When he looked back, Panthro saw four Berbils holding what looked like a large piece of metal, it was obviously a piece of what was the central palace of Avista. Panthro glanced back at the direction that Iris was headed briefly before answering.

"Take it over to the groundwork team." He replied. The berbils made their usual burbling sounds, repeating Panthro's orders back to themselves. "And ask Ava for the details on the palace structure," he added as the Berbils carried the large chunk of metal away. He then looked back in the direction Iris ran off to once more. He couldn't help the feeling of being worried about Iris, mixing with a pinch of guilt. Why he was feeling guilty? He didn't do anything wrong, did he?

He growled again and shook his head.

"These blasted females and their confusing actions!" he muttered, focusing his attention back to the Thundertank.


End file.
